Adding another drive for a RAID 1 config

Hi, currently, we have a PC with one HD running Win7 home. I would like to add a RAID controller card and another HD to have a RAID 1 config. Can I just add another HD to have RAID 1 config without erasing the data from the original HD? (PLs note I prefer to have a hardware RAID, not the built-in Win7 software RAID). Thanks.

The answer is a function of the specific controller. If you get a decent one, then you CAN do this hot. (Note, if your RAID controller can't do online migration, then chances are it is total crap and might not even support load balancing)

With Windows 7 home doesn't support OS Software RAID anyway, you need at least Windows 7 Pro for that.

For Windows 7 home my opinion is that RAID isn't worth the extra cost, as you'd need a real hardware RAID controller. Those fake-RAID controllers most mainboards come with are useless, and OS built-in RAID is the much better option. Getting a real hardware RAID controller is expensive, and you'd also need expensive enterprise class disks to match the controller.

With home versions of Windows you are better off investing in backups and taking those very seriously.

An exclusive Black Friday offer just for Expert Exchange audience! Buy any of our top-rated backup solutions & get up to 2TB free cloud per system! Perform local & cloud backup in the same step, and restore instantly—anytime, anywhere. Grab this deal now before it disappears!

For RAID-1 its better than all but the most expensive Hardware RAID controllers! (ie faster, more reliable) So just dont write it off, lots of recommendations on here from multiple experts to use software RAID-1

(NB beware fake-RAID controllers that come on most PC motherboards these days, in general they are very unreliable)

Was thinking of a Promise RAID controler card. Have used them before and they seem reliable. My question is not really about what controller card to go with, but if I need to reinstall my OS if I were to add another drive for mirroring.

As ever when changing/upgrading/modify your storage, always have a an uptodate backup.

From what i remember you just need to convert both your current disk and the new disk to dynamic disks (NB there is no easy way to go back to basic disks easily.) Then right click on the volume that contains all your data, choose add mirror, select the new disk and it should set it all up and start synchronising!

This video teaches viewers how to encrypt an external drive that requires a password to read and edit the drive. All tasks are done in Disk Utility.
Plug in the external drive you wish to encrypt:
Make sure all previous data on the drive has been …

This Micro Tutorial will teach you how to reformat your flash drive. Sometimes your flash drive may have issues carrying files so this will completely restore it to manufacturing settings. Make sure to backup all files before reformatting.
This w…